Investigations of the potential bioavailability of 210Po in some foodstuffs

Bulman, Robert A.; Ewers, L.; Matsumoto, Kiyoshi

doi:10.1016/0048-9697(95)04740-9

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In fact, studies in the Irish Sea within the path of the discharges from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant have found higher doses to organisms from 210 Po than from anthropogenic radionuclides (Pentreath and Allington 1988). Besides the exposure to the animals themselves, the highly enriched concentrations of 210 Po in marine organisms can contribute significantly to human radioactivity exposure through seafood consumption (Bulman et al 1995;Dahlgaard 1996;Carvalho 1997). Un-derstanding the biological interactions of polonium is thus important in risk assessments that consider the health of ecosystems and public health.…”

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“…210 Po is quickly scavenged out of the surface layer, leading to estimated residence times in surface waters of approximately 0.6 yr (Bacon et al 1976;Cochran et al 1983), a value that is about half its residence time in deeper waters (Kadko et al 1987). 210 Po concentrates appreciably in marine animals (Heyraud and Cherry 1979;Bulman et al 1995;Dahlgaard 1996;Durand et al 1999), providing the largest radiation doses to aquatic organisms. The concentration of 210 Po is Ն148 mBq g Ϫ1 in phytoplankton (Cherry 1964), 3,145 mBq g Ϫ1 in shrimp hepatopancreas (Cherry and Heyraud 1981), Յ700 and Յ1,026 mBq g Ϫ1 in mussel soft tissues (Germain et al 1995) and hepatopancreas (Stepnowski and Skwarzec 2000), respectively, and Յ262 mBq g Ϫ1 in fish (pyloric caecum, Clulow et al 1998).…”

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Experimental studies on the accumulation of polonium‐210 by marine phytoplankton

Stewart

Fisher

2003

Limnology & Oceanography

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Bioaccumulation of polonium-210 (t 1/2 ϭ 138 d) in marine phytoplankton can introduce this naturally occurring radioisotope into food chains, where it accounts for most of the radiation dose to marine organisms and to human consumers of seafood. Moreover, this isotope could be useful as a tracer of the flux of organic matter in ocean surface waters. We performed laboratory experiments with eight algal species representing six algal divisions to quantify the uptake, cellular partitioning, and retention of 210 Po by algae. Biological uptake was unaffected by temperature or light, and volume concentration factors (VCFs) for these algal species ranged between 0.5 and 3.0 ϫ 10 4 . Interspecific differences in VCFs could be explained by considering the surface area to volume ratios of the cells and cellular protein content. Once associated with the cells, between 30 and 60% of the total cellular 210 Po was in the cytoplasm of the different species.210 Po was not irreversibly bound to the cells but displayed a biological half-life of ϳ23 d. Because 210 Po associates appreciably with organic matter inside cells, unlike other particlereactive nonessential metals, it could have promise as a tracer of sinking organic matter in the ocean.

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Experimental studies on the accumulation of polonium‐210 by marine phytoplankton

Stewart

Fisher

2003

Limnology & Oceanography

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“…210 Po is the final radioactive product in the 238 U decay series and is of interest as a potential tracer of organic carbon flux in the ocean (Friedrich and Rutgers van der Loeff 2002). The alpha decay of 210 Po accounts for most of the radioactive dose to marine organisms (Cherry 1964), and human consumers of seafood receive their largest dose of natural radiation from the polonium in their food (Cherry 1964;Bulman et al 1995). Thus, in addition to 210 Po's potential as a geochemical tracer, its interactions with marine biota are of interest to risk assessment modelers in the context of understanding the im-1 Corresponding author (nfisher@notes.cc.sunysb.edu).…”

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Bioaccumulation of polonium‐210 in marine copepods

Stewart

Fisher

2003

Limnology & Oceanography

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210 Po, a naturally occurring radioisotope that is ubiquitous in seawater, is especially enriched in proteinaceous tissues of marine organisms and may therefore be useful as a tracer of organic carbon flux in marine systems. Due in part to its biomagnification in marine food chains, 210 Po provides the largest radiation dose to any organism under natural conditions. To better understand the extent to which zooplankton can influence the fluxes of 210 Po and serve as a conduit between phytoplankton, which concentrate it greatly from ambient water and higher trophic levels, we conducted a series of laboratory experiments with the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa. A. tonsa was presented with either dissolved 210 Po or with one of eight different phytoplankton species and sterile glass beads, all labeled with 210 Po. Assimilation efficiencies (AEs) of ingested 210 Po in copepods ranged from 19% to 55% among the phytoplankton diets, and correlated directly with 210 Po's cytoplasmic distributions in the algal cells. The AE of 210 Po from ingested glass beads was 0%. The high AE and low efflux rates (mean of 3% d Ϫ1 ) of 210 Po in copepods can explain its biomagnification in marine food chains. Uptake and loss parameters of 210 Po in copepods measured in these experiments were used in a model to quantify the relative sources of 210 Po for copepods. Under all realistic scenarios, Ͼ90% of 210 Po in copepods appears to be taken up through diet. Model-predicted 210 Po concentrations in copepods in different ocean regions closely matched independent measurements, suggesting that we understand the processes governing this element's enrichment in zooplankton and thus can make quantitative predictions of its bioconcentration on a site-specific basis.

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“…210 Po is found in variable amounts in all types of natural water samples and has a high speci c activity compared to that of 226 Ra and 238 U. About 7% of the natural internal radiation dose is due to ingestion of 210 Po and about 18% of the internal dose to the people is due to ingestion of 210 Po along with its precursor 210 Pb [Bulman et al 1995;Clayton and Bradley 1995). When ingested 210 Po is mainly absorbed into blood compared to other alpha-emitting radionuclides like 239 Pu (ICRP 1979, ICRP 1993.…”

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Study of radiation dose due to 226Ra, 222Rn, and 210Po in drinking water of Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India

Lavanya,

Namitha,

Hidayath

et al. 2024

Environ Earth Sci

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Groundwater dissolves radioactive minerals like uranium, radium, radon and polonium during its ow. 226 Ra, 222 Rn, and 210 Po are the decay products of the 238 U series which causes ingestion dose to human being. The activity of these radionuclides was studied in groundwater samples collected from Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India. 226 Ra, 222 Rn and 210 Po concentration in bore well water samples were varied from 2.18 to 96.42mBql − 1 , 0.94 to 26.95Bql − 1 , 0.72 to 6.33mBql − 1 respectively. The average ingestion dose due to 226 Ra, 222 Rn and 210 Po were 6.41, 11.60 and 2.51µSvy − 1 respectively.

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Investigations of the potential bioavailability of 210Po in some foodstuffs

Cited by 18 publications

References 20 publications

Experimental studies on the accumulation of polonium‐210 by marine phytoplankton

Experimental studies on the accumulation of polonium‐210 by marine phytoplankton

Bioaccumulation of polonium‐210 in marine copepods

Study of radiation dose due to 226Ra, 222Rn, and 210Po in drinking water of Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka, India

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